‘Moonlight’ nabs first Oscar, Trump and Streep center stage

Mahershala Ali won his first Oscar on Sunday for his supporting role in “Moonlight,” kicking off what could be a big night for diversity at the Academy Awards. Ali, 43, who played the mentor to a young black boy in “Moonlight,” was one of a record seven actors of color nominated for Oscars this year, along with films that ranged from overlooked African-American female math geniuses (“Hidden Figures”) to interracial marriage (“Loving”) and black incarceration rates in modern U.S. society (“13th”). U.S. President Donald Trump and actress Meryl Streep also took center stage on the movie industry’s biggest night as host Jimmy Kimmel fired off political zingers after an awards season marked by celebrity opposition to Trump. “I want to say thank you to President Trump. Remember last year when it seemed like the Oscars were racist?” quipped Kimmel in an apparent reference to Trump’s crackdown on immigrants and travelers from seven majority Muslim nations. Streep, 67, was given a standing ovation by the Oscar audience when Kimmel recalled how Trump had derided the actress as “overrated” after she attacked him at the Golden Globes ceremony in January. “Meryl Streep has phoned it in for more than 50 films in the course of her lackluster career,” Kimmel quipped as triple Oscar winner Streep squirmed in her seat. Several celebrities wore blue ribbons on Sunday in support of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) rights advocacy group that worked to get Trump’s travel ban blocked in U.S. courts. With a leading…